Building a better nation

requires work. Decent Work.

A worker under the ILO’s emergency

employment programme sorts out debris
gathered from Luntad Elementary
School in Palo, Leyte--one of the areas
hardly-hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan.
(Photo by ILO/K. Lapitan)

Rebuilding livelihoods after super typhoon Haiyan

I t has been three months since the
strongest tropical storm ever recorded
on land – known as Super Typhoon Haiyan
(approx. USD 3.2 million) to the ILO’s
support for livelihood recovery. It is clearly
pressing to create opportunities for those
and Employment (DOLE) in creating
over 20,000 jobs under the emergency
employment programme, reaching out to
– hit the shores of the Philippines, leaving affected to earn an income, start returning 100,000 people during the initial phase
behind a trail of massive devastation. In to their normal lives and rebuild their local in 2013 to help improve their living and
addition to the loss of lives, the disaster had communities.” working conditions. The support from
a massive impact on the local communities, With the help of a number of donors donors and partners will further bolster
many of which will take months, if not and through allocation of ILO resources, on-going initiatives with the Philippines
years to recover. emergency employment programmes were government through DOLE and the
As of today, at least 14.2 million people put in place under the Early Recovery and Department of Social Welfare and
have been affected by the Typhoon, Livelihood humanitarian cluster. Development (DSWD).
including over 5.9 million who lost their “The contribution from the Norwegian “Norway and the international
primary source of income. Out of those Government has been very timely. community have not forgotten the
workers, more than 2.6 million were already Together with the financial support from Philippines. Now that the acute emergency
in vulnerable employment and living at the International Maritime Employers’ relief phase is over, it is important that
or near the poverty line even before the Council and Japan, coupled with a quick priority is given to providing enough
disaster. internal ILO allocation of funds, we resources for reconstruction of the
“During my recent visit to the were able to start-up the first emergency affected communities and giving them
Philippines, I could see for myself the employment activities shortly after the opportunities to generate sustainable
massive damage and devastation caused disaster,” said Lawrence Jeff Johnson, income through decent jobs,” said
by the Typhoon,” said Norwegian Minister Director of the ILO Country Office for Ambassador Knut Solem, of the Royal
of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende. “The the Philippines. Norwegian Embassy in Manila.
Philippines is in the middle of a critical “Importantly, this is fully in line with The ILO programme consists of both
process of reconstruction. It is crucial that the strategy of the Philippine government, short and medium-term measures, which
the international community continues which calls for actions that enable people together aim to address the immediate
to support the recovery efforts. Norway to return to income-generating activities as needs of those affected by the typhoon
has increased its allocation to a total soon as possible,” he added. and offer them a pathway to re-establish
of NOK 255 million (approx. USD Since Haiyan struck on 8 November, the livelihoods and regain self-reliance.
42 million), including NOK 20 million ILO supported the Department of Labor continued on page 2
 In the news
ILO pursues its medium-term rebuilding strategy in Davao Oriental
By: Jedel Ervin Tabamo, Project Coordinator
Typhoon Bopha: Joint response for post calamity interventions, local resource-based employment generation
and livelihood recovery interventions in affected areas

M ore than a year after Typhoon Bopha’s (locally known as

Pablo) devastation in the eastern part of Mindanao, much
has yet to be done in the municipalities of Baganga, Cateel and
Boston.
Rebuilding activities previously carried out have to be done
after Typhoon Lingling (Agaton) crossed the same path as Bopha
and battered the province early this year. However, majority of
donor-funded projects have already exited the three affected
municipalities.
Meanwhile, the International Labour Organization (ILO)
with funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade - Australian Government has accelerated its medium-term
interventions on sustainable livelihoods. This is on-going until the
first half of the year. Workers who were trained formed their local Workers who lost their livelihoods to Typhoon Bopha (Pablo) are now
organizations, which enabled them to engage in reconstruction earning, as they also have access to social security, accident and health
insurance while rebuilding their communities. (Photo by ILO)
and pursue developmental projects.
Through the ILO process, local organizations are actually The process help in further building their capacity to enter into
experiencing the full cycle of project development, management, contracts and to ensure safe and decent working conditions.
monitoring and evaluation.

Rebuilding livelihoods after super typhoon Haiyan

continued from page 1 In the second phase of the programme, the ILO will aim to create
In the first months, in line with the overall humanitarian jobs and generate income at the community level through local
Strategic Response Plan, the ILO is providing immediate short- resource-based approaches for infrastructure and environmental
term jobs using the emergency employment approach, which investments, by using labour-based technologies and community-
contribute to the massive efforts for debris clearing, clean-up contracting, and by working through local partners in the calamity
work and temporary repairs of critical community facilities. stricken areas.
Other priorities involve gender responsive technical vocational About 20 per cent of workers initially involved in the emergency
training and skills development provided for affected workers as employment are expected to engage in the second phase of the
well as sustainable employment generated through recovery of project, receiving skills training and transitioning into community-
enterprises. based work. It is expected that the programme will create 100,000
“With the currently available funding, the emergency work days before the end of December 2014.
employment programmes will engage approximately 700 workers In addition, about 250 potential entrepreneurs will receive
per day over the coming four months,” said Lawrence Jeff support on business development and recovery.
Johnson.” We will aim at equal participation rate of men and Finally, US$1.3 million will be injected into the local economy
women in all activities.” through wages and materials as well as tools purchase.

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http://www.ilo.org/publications Davao Oriental
Decent Work for All is published monthly by the ILO Country Office for the Philippines.
The electronic version can be accessed at www.ilo.org/manila. Opinions expressed do not
necessarily reflect the views of the ILO.

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